


An unexpected find

by dvioletta



Category: King Arthur (2004)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-20
Updated: 2011-06-20
Packaged: 2017-10-20 14:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/213780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dvioletta/pseuds/dvioletta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an answer to the 2008 christmas exchange using the prompt "The first time Arthur cries in front of Lancelot."</p>
            </blockquote>





	An unexpected find

The stables were empty or at least Lancelot had assumed it was empty before he heard a strange noise coming from one of the darker corner near the back. He approached slowly expecting to find one of the younger knights. It would not be unheard of, the last battle had been a bloody and wasteful battle, and they had just buried the unfortunate dead. After that he would expect them to take a while to adjust, he and a few of the more experience knights had simply got drunk and bedded a willing companion to celebrate being alive. Their Commander the slightly aloof and always pious Arthur had probably gone to his Chapel to pray for the dead.

Lancelot moved closer trying to decide which knight it was most likely, young Galahad he had not joined them for the drinking and hadn't been seen since. He was not prepared to see the red cloak and gold amour of his commander his shoulders obviously shaking with the sound but thankfully his back was turned. Lancelot tried to quietly back out but bumped into the corner of a nearby stall causing Arthur to spin round to face the noise. He was confronted with the sight of his Commander’s obvious tear tracks down his face, his eyes even in the dark showed red and spidery.

They were both frozen in shock but something dropping from Arthur's hand that brought him to life moving to wipe his face of the tears. However, Lancelot still didn't move. He would never have expected to find his commander in the stables. He was sure Arthur wouldn't ever cry as he seemed so detached from all emotions. Should he try to just walk out like it never happened or comfort him as he would with any of the knights offering them a drink and shoulder to cry on as others had done for him while he was finding his feet.

The flutter of something to the floor finally shook Lancelot out of his frozen state and he bend to pick up the parchment to offer it back to his commander along with a clean rag he had been planning to polish his saddle with. "Commander." he stopped and started again. "Arthur is there something wrong?" he was not sure what else he could say to the other man hoping that would prompt him to speak.

Arthur had been excited to receive a missive that was not related to his current post or new orders. He had just spent the last few days fighting a campaign that was not going well and he had lost one knight. And several others were under the medicus’ care. He had tried so hard to keep them out of harm’s way. But he had failed and now he had a message telling him his mentor and close friend, Pelliduis, was seriously ill. He had read the letter feeling his emotions run away with him. And worried that someone would discover him, he had fled to the closest cover which were the stables and found a dark corner to cry in. He let go of his control and feeling the pressure of his failures, tears fell easily from his eyes. Then suddenly there was a noise and he spun round to come face to face with Lancelot offering him a rag. He took the rag, gratefully wiping his face trying to think of what to say to the other man. "Thank you, I think the hay must have irritated me." He couldn't really say what had happened.

Lancelot looked down at the parchment in his hand; it was just a page of squiggles. He read enough to get by but nothing enough to read this obvious complex letter. He accepted back the rag pushing it in his jerkin out of sight and offered back the letter. "I thought maybe it was something on this." he suggested moving so that he was non-threatening to the other man; he really didn't want Arthur mad at him.

Arthur took back the sheet of parchment and looking down at the writing, it seemed that some the words had been smudged by his tears. "I just got bad news from a friend." He admitted; waiting for the teasing to start. He expected to be told he was weak for crying over something silly when the knights had just buried one of their own.

The shock of getting such a revealing answer from Arthur almost made Lancelot reply with his usual glib comment. "I am sorry to hear that." He settled himself on one of the spare bales. "You want to talk about it?" Hoping the other man would continue to trust him. He offered back the rag to wipe his face.

Finally, Arthur made up his mind deciding that sharing with Lancelot wouldn't be so bad also gladly taking back the rag finding that his eyes were watering again just thinking about the problems of his mentor. "A man I was very close to and who taught me a lot about life is very ill." He just couldn't stop the tears this time. "This letter took weeks to reach me, he could already be dead." The not knowing was almost worse than waiting for another letter to tell him if his mentor was truly dead or had recovered.

Lancelot listened to Arthur talking about the man that obviously meant so much to him. He understood the not knowing about someone's fate was a terrible thing. He didn't know and wouldn't know what had happened to his family, but getting this out of date information could be so much worse and knowing you had to wait even longer for more sounded terrible. Making a bold move, he moved off his own bale and pulled Arthur into a hug rubbing his back and muttering soft soothing words in his ear comforting him the best he could. Letting him cry on his shoulder and trying very hard to make sure they were not bothered. Finally, Arthur seemed to settle and was quiet in his arms. He placed a gentle kiss on Arthur's temple. "Why don’t you go wash your face. Someone will start looking for you soon." He wasn't sure how long they could spend in the stable before someone would start a mass search for the missing commander.

Arthur left the stables feeling a lot lighter in both head and heart. The touch from Lancelot was unexpected, but had reminded him so much of his long dead mother's comforting touch but also sparked an unexpected flame deep with in other parts of his body as well.


End file.
